More women are choosing not to have kids--and not because of abortion, writes Amanda Marcotte. (Shutter Stock)

(Newser)
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Just two years ago, only 29% of Americans deemed childlessness bad for society; now, as the percentage of childless-by-choice women grows, 38% denounce that choice. Many of those who decry childlessness are social conservatives who blame the trend on legal abortion, even though 61% of women who have abortions are already mothers. “Conservative histrionics aside, women who have abortions aren't the ones causing the uptick in childlessness,” writes Amanda Marcotte for Slate.

Some women are likely just admitting motherhood “isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” as a recent New York cover story documented, but many simply never wanted kids. “My ovaries do not stir when I see a baby,” says one of the women Marcotte spoke to. Though many are called “selfish,” they insist the truly selfish thing would be for them to have children. It’s time to usher in a world “in which parenthood is considered an active choice and not simply the default state of adulthood.”

Look at what Europe is doing to itself by encouraging low birth rates. France recently passed laws about women in veils etc. in large part because their culture is being threatened by large numbers of immigrants living in their self segregated areas and failing or refusing to assimilate into the larger culture. Meanwhile, native French are having so few children that they face the possibility of becoming a minority in their own country within a few decades.

WinnetkaGurl

Jul 18, 2010 8:02 AM CDT

I can appreciate a person making a conscious choice of whether or not to become a parent.